Brassiere and breast pad



June 29,1943. 1,. H. LOEFFEL 2,323,143

BRASSIERE AND BREAST PAD Filed June 7, 1940 I Patented June 29, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE zszssrs- I naasartna arm nanas'r ran Lester K. Loeflel, West Haven, Conn, asaignor to The Berger Brothers Company. New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Applicatlon lune I, 1940, Serial 80. 339,243 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-267) 'ihis invention relates to breast pads and in brassieres so constructed that the breast pads according to my invention may be worn therewith and readily detached therefrom, so that the garment may b cleaned.

. In certain instances it is desired to wear breast pads such as in the case of a person who may have had a breast removed or in case of a person whose breasts are too flat for the accepted style. Itquite often occurs'that in the case of a breast operation one only of the breasts is removed, and in such case it will only be necessary to wear one breast pad. It is desirable in such an event, that the brassiere be so constructed that without alteration it may be used with a single breast pad and the breast'pad so formed that it will have the same appearance as the remaining natural breast.

In the formation of a breast pad it is desirable that it be made of soft and compressible material and that it be made of the proper shape to simulate the human breast. Also, it is advantageous for the face of the pad worn next to the body to be concave or hollow so that it'may, if desired, be worn over and receive in the concavity the natural breast, if it is used as a supplement to a breast which is too flat.

One-objectof the present invention is the provision ofa new and improved body or breast pad which may be made to suit any part or the indivldual figure and any amount of fullness be readily imparted to the pad.

A still further object of the invention is the a provision of a new and improved breast pad which may be madeof a sheet of relatively soft and pliable material, which may becut and formed to simulate a breast of the desired size, and which, when so formed, will be concaveconvex in shape and will tend to retain its normal shape and return to shape when distorted.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a brassire so constructed that a breast pad made according to my invention may be removably secured to the brassiere so that it may readily be detached in order that the garment may be cleaned.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a brassiere having breast pockets formed therein, which pockets are designed to removably receive and retain out of contact with the body of the wearer one or more breast pads,

depending upon whether the wearer desires to g the pads upon both sides or upon one side To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompan i drawing:

Fig. 1 is an inside elevational view of a brassiere embodying my invention:

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through one of the breast pockets of the brassiere, taken on line 2-4 of Pie. 1;

Fla. 3 shows one of the pockets removed from the brassire;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the pocket on line H of Fig. 3; r

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of a completed breast pad embodying my invention, and.

P18. 6 is a view of the blank from which the padismade.

Torillustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown a brassire it which may be of the usual form except for the front section Ii thereof, which sectionis provided with breast pockets of novel form. It will be under stood that the brassiere is provided with the proper amount of fullness at the pocket portion of the garment, whereby it will be able to receive the breast pads described hereinafter. The breast pockets are shown, for example, at I! in the garment and the particular construction thereof will be apparent from Figs. 3 and 4.

As shown in the latter figures, the pocket comprises a front wall I! which may be the front wall of the brassire at this point or may be the front wall of a separate pmket sewed into the brassire. As shown, the wall i3 is the front ply of the garment. The front wall [3 is provided with fullness as shown in Fig. 4 to provide a pocket, the rear face of which is closed by flaps it, it and it, though I do not wish to be limited to the precise number of flaps disclosed.

It will be noted that each of these flaps is secured at the outer edges to the periphery of the wall it of the pocket, as shown, for example, at II, it and IS, the outer edges of the flaps together corresponding to the outer edge of the pocket wall It. The inner edge of each of the flaps 20, 2| and 22 is left free of the wall i3, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, and it will be seen that these edges overlap to a considerable extent and are also rounded or arc-shaped in form, whereby they may be nested into the concavity or pocket formed by the wall ll, or may be drawn or may stand forwardly of this wall depending upon the thickness of the breast pad to be used in the pocket, as will be explained hereinafter, and also depending upon the size of the breast of the p rson wearing the garment.

It will be apparent that these flaps, having their inner ends unsecured as described above, may be separated and pulled out from the pocket so that the breast pad may be readily inserted therein and removed therefrom. It will also be understood, however, that the flaps are always of such size and configuration that when in closed position-as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, they will overlap at all times so as to protect the pad from contact with the body. The use of aplurality of flaps having arcuate free edges so that the flaps may swing in or out toward or from the wall i3, provides for the fitting of the garment to fiat or slightly curved breasts as well as for the proper fit of the garment when it is worn by one whose breast has been removed. Moreover, it will be understood that if desired where one breast has been removed, for example, a. breast pad may be inserted in one of the brassiere pockets only, the pad in such case being so made as to be of substantially the same size as the remaining breast. In case of fiat or slightly curved breasts which are desired to be supplemented, it will be understood that the breast will project into the pocket and the formation of the'flaps as described permits it to be worn over breasts of varying fullness.

In Figs. 2, 5 and 6 of the drawing I have shown a novel form of breast pad adapted to be inserted inthe pocket of the brassire above described.

As shown in Fig. 6, the pad may be made of a piece of sheet material 25, the edges of which are cut to the desired shape and whichsheet of material is provided with cut-out portions or darts 2t and 27. When the edges of the darts are brought together, as shown in Fig. 5 along the lines 28 and 29, it will be. seen that the sheet of material 25 will be formed into a concaveconvex shape. Varying degrees of fullness may be imparted to the pad thus formed by the'size of the darts so that the pad may readily be formed to suit the individual for which it is being made.

As shown in Fig. 2, the edges of the blank or sheet of material are beveled or cut at an oblique angle to the original plane of the sheet, so that when the pad is formed as a concave-convex body, these edges will lie in substantially the same plane, that is, the plane at the concave side of the pad, and will lie flatly against the asaaisa approximately one-half inch in thickness and.

will be extremely light and at the same time will have suificient body to hold its shape.-

As shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, the pads when made may be slipped into the pockets l2 by, pulling outwardly the free edges of the flaps It, '65 and it, and placing the pad thereunder with its convex side toward the front of the garment. As shown in Fig. 2, the flaps of the breast pocket may swing inwardly against the surface of the pad if pressed therein by the breast of the wearer of the garment. However, if the garment is worn by one whose breast has been removed the pad will retain its shape in a satisfactory manner without any inner support in addition to that given at the edges of the pocket by the flaps themselves.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within'the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A pocket or casing for a body or breast pad of concavo-convex form, said pocket being permanently closed at the front face thereof by a wall of rounded contour to fit snugly over the convex front face of the pad, and the rear face of the pocket comprising a plurality of flaps, each of said flaps being secured at its outer edges to the periphery of the front wall and having an edge of arcuate shape extending freely across the pocket, said free edges overlapping to close the pocket but being separable to permit the insertion of a breast pad therein, and said flaps having suificient fullness to swing inwardly to positions adjacent the front wall of the pocket.

LESTER H. LOEFFEL. 

